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VICTORIA - One loose end left dangling when the spring session wrapped up was the public release of a long-delayed report by Auditor-General John Doyle into the legislature’s own budget and spending.

The report has been kept under wraps since it was delivered in draft form to Speaker of the Legislature Bill Barisoff nine months ago.

The holdup being that the draft first has to be reviewed by the legislature assembly management committee, a secretive all-party panel that rarely meets and then only at the behest of either the Speaker or the government majority.

It was at LAMC’s request, made several years ago, that Doyle began the first independent audit of Vote 1, as annual spending estimates of the legislature assembly are known in the budget-approval process.

The currently-just-short-of-$70-million budget funds routine items like security, the library and Hansard, as well as such potentially controversial matters as MLA expenses, constituency allowances and services.

The impetus for the B.C. auditor-general’s review came from a parliamentary expense scandal in the United Kingdom, which turned up such outrages as the MP who’d charged taxpayers for the cost of cleaning the moat at his country estate.

The fallout included premature retirements, criminal charges, defeats at the hands of the voters and the ouster of the Speaker of the House of Commons, who was seen to be more concerned about leaks to the media than the abuses themselves.

In calling on Doyle to review the legislature accounts, the idea was to shine an independent light on the process and reassure the public that there were no expenditure shenanigans here in B.C.

Ironically, the lengthy delay in sharing the findings with the public risks creating the opposite impression, that the B.C. legislature has something to hide.

LAMC was supposed to convene to review the findings during the recent session. But Barisoff, who chairs the committee, never called it into session nor is there any word when he will do so.

Near as I can determine, Doyle found no moats, nor anything that would prompt individual resignations. I believe he did find laxity in spending controls and accounting procedures that ought to be rectified.

But that is speculation, based on what little I’ve been able to gather about the contents of the report, now languishing in the office of the Speaker.

Government representatives profess not to know the specifics. The New Democrats did get wind of a finding that could have reflected badly on them and sought clarification from Doyle, who supplied it.

The office of the auditor-general routinely shares its findings with the target of a given audit, allowing the opportunity for a reply. At the same time, he’s an independent officer of the legislature, put there as a watchdog on behalf of the public interest, a role he can only fulfil if his reports are released in a timely fashion.

This audit has dragged on so long that Doyle is now approaching the end of his six years as auditor-general, having been appointed in the spring of 2007 and taken up his duties in the fall of that year.

An all-party committee has already been struck to consider successorship, with a view to resolving the matter ahead of next spring’s election window.

It can offer Doyle another term. Or the committee can begin looking outside, a process that can take many months.

Either way, the three B.C. Liberals (Eric Foster, John Les, Ralph Sultan) and two New Democrats (Kathy Corrigan, Bruce Ralston) must reach a unanimous decision.

Not easy to achieve. In the last go-round in 2006, the committee deadlocked on party lines, leading to a year’s delay and the appointment of two interim auditors-general before MLAs finally resolved themselves in favour of Doyle, then serving as deputy auditor-general in Western Australia.

Against that backdrop, there’s Doyle’s audit of Vote 1, the budget for the very entity, the assembly, that holds the future of his office in its hands.

If he pulls no punches, does he risk his chance of a second term, presuming he wants one? If he does go for the second term, will people suspect him of holding back on the audit?

Not in my estimation. Doyle is as prickly and opinionated as they come in conducting his audits — the joke is that he specializes in Generally Accepted Australian Accounting Principles — but I don’t question his integrity.

I do fault the Speaker and the Liberals for not expediting the release of his report, thereby making a difficult job harder.

“The auditor-general leads a dedicated and professional team of approximately 90,” as the last posting for the position had it. “Effective leadership skills, a collaborative problem-solving style, a solid record of accomplishment in either the public or private sector, esteem within the accounting profession, integrity, collegiality and an appreciation for the role of parliament in the fiscal cycle are just a few of the attributes the committee is seeking in a successful candidate.”

No mention there of a proven ability to navigate political mine fields. But in this province, clearly that would be a useful skill as well.

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